Psalm 139:13-16

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him [her] to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." 1 Samuel 1

Last Sunday, we publicly dedicated our precious Grace to God at our church. It was more of a formality than anything, because long before we ever even saw Grace's face, we dedicated her life to Him.

Sunday, we publicly committed to praying for Grace and raising her according to His will and ways. I realize that the dedication of her life is not a one time thing. In the scripture above, Hannah said, in regards to her son Samuel, that she will give him over to the Lord "for his whole life".

All of our family and friends that celebrated the day with us

I have always prayed that God will use Grace's life to draw others nearer to Him. I know that He already has, and I pray that He will continue to do so.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Please join me in prayer for Sawyer Dykman (here is a link to their blog)! He is scheduled to have surgery this morning at 9:00. His momma Ashley is a dear friend of mine...I met her when we learned of Grace's diagnoses, and she was a huge support to me in the beginning of our journey (as well as now), and I am blessed to know her and her family. We love you, Sawyer!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Baby girl is FIVE MONTHS OLD! I can't believe it! She is doing really, really well! She is "talking" and laughing and smiling. My heart is full! She also discovered she likes blowing bubbles, and she is experimenting with the volume of her voice. It is so funny! She is the best baby! She still loves her swing! She also discovered recently that she loves playing with my hair when I hold her. It is sooo sweet and melts my heart! We pretty much go anywhere and everywhere, and she is really good unless she is hungry or sleepy. The only thing she really doesn't like is lotion after her bath. Well, that and therapy on some days. :)

She is a growing girl! I posted her four month stats in a previous post, but she is 50-75%tile in weight and 50%tile in length. Of course, her head circumference is <5%tile, but she has microcephaly, so that wasn't surprising. We go back in about a month for 6 month immunizations.

Grace is wearing size 3 diapers most of the time. She is in size 6-9 month clothes. Her eating schedule is being disrupted because we are introducing solid food! So, as far as formula goes, she is eating anywhere from 4 to 7 ounces every 4-ish hours during the day. We were adding rice cereal to her morning and night bottles, but she is now eating one serving of cereal via spoon! She likes oatmeal better than rice, and I recently added a little apple baby food in with her cereal. She is a good eater! She is also a great sleeper! She goes to bed usually around 10 pm and doesn't wake up until we wake her up 99% of the time. We usually wake her up around 6:30-7 am.

All of her doctors are really pleased with how well she is doing! The most recent big news we have gotten was from her opthamology appointment. Dr. M said she can see! I thought she could see, but I needed an opthamologist to confirm it! I knew she had some vision problems, because she can't always focus, and she rarely follows anything. Dr. M said that she does have vision delays, and she probably either has delayed visual maturation or cortical visual impairment. There is no treatment. The delays may or may not correct on their own, but we will just have to wait and see. Dr. M said he was optimistic. I guess we are getting good at that (maybe?). ha! We know God will continue to carry us through the wait and see, just as He has done for the past 10 months.

Grace is doing really well with her therapy. I guess we are finished with speech therapy. We are continuing physical therapy every 2 weeks. Grace continues to amaze us with her improvements in her motor skills and in her tone.

We will have another round of doctor's appointments in September, including 6 month immunizations, follow up with her neurosurgeon, and follow up with her palliative care doctor.

So how can you pray for our sweet girl?? Well, pray that she continues to improve with therapy, that her vision continues to improve, that her shunt remains infection-free, that a replacement PT will be found while hers is on maternity leave, and that our next round of doctor's appointments goes well. Thank you so much for loving and praying for her! We are blessed!

Below is her 5 month picture. Notice the blurry arms and legs?? That's because she was excited and moving them! She is my heart!

Our family

Baby Grace

About Me

I am a wife, momma, and pediatric nurse. My daughter Grace was born March 4, 2011, and she is an awesome little girl! She has special needs (see my link "Grace's Story"). Our second baby, Micah, is due March 31, 2014. My prayer for our family is that God would use us to draw others nearer to Him. This blog is dedicated to my journey with motherhood.